The first weekend she stepped onto the field at James G. Pressly Stadium as a freshman, Savannah Jordan scored five goals.
“It was kind of the opening for everything,” Savannah said. “I realized this is the place I was supposed to be.”
For four years, Savannah has tried to meet the expectations she created for herself that first weekend — expectations that arose despite an unconventional start in a sport where she instantly became a star.
Now, as Florida begins its run in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, her story at UF is coming to a close.
It’s a story that has left a permanent mark on both Florida’s record book and soccer program.
It’s a story that has made her one of the most accomplished UF athletes of all time.
But it’s also a story with an ending that has yet to be written.
“Freshman year I really tried to achieve scoring goals and getting those stats,” Savannah said. “But now it’s more about my team, and how we can win the SEC and how we can win the national championship.”
• • •
Before she became a soccer star at Florida, Savannah was a sophomore in high school committed to play at Auburn University.
The three-time All-American from Fayetteville, Georgia, grew up as an accomplished athlete in Taekwondo, earning her second-degree black belt and competing and earning gold medals in three junior Olympics.
But at age 13, she decided it was time for a new challenge in a sport she wasn’t familiar with, and so began her soccer career.
She was put in goal on her first club team, but six months later she wanted to try a different position.
Her coach at the time said she wasn’t good enough to play anywhere else on the field.
So Savannah switched teams and joined the Concorde Fire Soccer Club, where she met coach Mac Williams.
When Savannah made the team, Williams said, he asked her what position she wanted to play.
“‘I don’t want to play goalie,’” Williams remembers her saying. “She didn’t know any other positions.”
Under his training, Jordan transformed from a former goalie with little knowledge about the game into the dynamic forward she is today.
He credits all of it to her determination and work ethic.
“Jordan is a rare breed. I have coached many, many, many players, men and women. She’s a really rare breed,” Williams said. “I have always wanted to give to someone, and here is someone who ... is willing to work at and achieve the goals she wanted to achieve.”
Throughout high school, Savannah grabbed the attention of soccer programs across the country, including almost all of the schools in the SEC.
After visiting schools from the west coast to the south she narrowed down her top three: South Carolina, Auburn, and Pepperdine.
At that point, Florida wasn’t even on her radar.
That changed after she committed to Auburn.
With the Auburn campus only an hour and a half away from her home in Georgia, she decided to drive there on her own and had an experience that made her question her commitment.
“(I) had a really weird, overwhelming feeling of just anxiety almost,” Jordan said. “I was like, ‘I can’t go to this school,’ ‘I don’t want to play here.' I got really emotional.”
That was the turning point for Florida.
After Savannah decommitted from Auburn, Florida assistant coach Vic Campbell, who saw her at summer region camp, convinced her to visit Gainesville.
After stepping on campus and meeting all of her future coaches, she knew it was the right fit.
“You kind of know where you are supposed to be,” Savannah said. “I came here, took a visit and right away I was like, ‘This is the place.’”
• • •
When Savannah scored five goals as a freshman in her opening weekend, it set a precedent for the rest of her career.
“(It) kind of sets an expectation and puts a little pressure on someone,” UF coach Becky Burleigh said. “So having to deal with that since day one of her college career was a big part of her experience here.”
But that weekend wasn’t a fluke.
In her first season, she scored 22 goals, the highest in a single season since two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion Abby Wambach’s senior season in 2001.
That year Savannah was also named Soccer America Freshman of the Year, becoming the first Gator to do so.
“A player like Savannah probably comes around only once in however long it has been since I’ve been there,” Wambach said after a 2013 international friendly match against Brazil in Orlando. “You really have to relish the opportunity with this player, who decided to come and play for this college.
“Hopefully, she can break and shatter every record I’ve ever set.”
And she has come close.
Behind her leadership, the Gators made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and the Sweet 16 in 2015.
Last season, the Gators won both the SEC regular season and tournament titles.
Savannah now ranks number two on Florida’s all-time career goals with 78, just 18 behind Wambach’s 96.
The 2013 and 2015 SEC Offensive Player of the Year also currently leads all active NCAA players in career points (182) and goals.
In addition, she was one of just three collegiate players invited by the U.S. Women’s National Team in October to be part of a training camp that participates in two friendlies against international opponents.
But she decided to be taken out of consideration for the spot.
“Obviously that’s a huge honor to get invited to that, and that is something that everyone kind of aspires to,” Jordan said. “For me right now, I definitely want to just finish out this season with my team. I would have been missing three, maybe four games, so I just wanted to finish out this season here.”
Even with the success she has had on the field, she has never wavered on her commitment and her work off the field.
And her teammates have noticed.
“She is the most hard working player I have ever played with. She gives 100 percent effort day in and day out in every aspect of life,” teammate Gabby Seiler said. “I have the utmost respect for her and the all the work she puts in.
• • •
With the start of postseason play, Savannah has one more chance to accomplish something that Florida’s soccer program hasn’t done since 1998: win a national championship.
“I would love to win a national championship,” Jordan said. “I would say that's my number one accomplishment I would like do before I leave.”
But after this season, when her days of representing the University of Florida are over, it’s not the points, the goals or the trophies that she’ll miss most.
It’s the memories she’s made over the last four years.
“My team, teammates, and coaches. I’m going to miss that the most, being around everyone 24/7,” Savannah said.
“It becomes your life.”
Contact Lauren Staff at lstaff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @lstaff27.
UF forward Savannah Jordan takes a shot on goal during Florida's 5-2 win against Iowa State on Aug. 19, 2016, at James G. Pressly Stadium.
